


The Oncoming Storm

by greekowl87



Series: Tumblr Prompts [38]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M, MSR, Post-Episode: s05e22 The End, season five
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:55:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23891941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greekowl87/pseuds/greekowl87
Summary: Their office is burnt to a crisp. Their future is uncertain. Then there is Diana Fowley between them. How do Mulder and Scully deal with the oncoming storm?
Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully
Series: Tumblr Prompts [38]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/822135
Comments: 2
Kudos: 29





	The Oncoming Storm

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: You never specified which #8 from that prompt list you wanted so I picked all of them :) Hope you enjoy it. P.S. No beta. 
> 
> Prompt from @monkiafilefan “#8.” No specification: “What are you talking about? You’re the only face with a view around here.” / We can’t do this.. anymore…you deserve someone better than me.” / “Stop biting your lip, you know that drives me crazy.” / “What are you wearing? you look like a llama ohh wait or is it an alpaca?”

Mulder’s back was turned to her as she sat on his bed. Somewhere off in the distance, Scully heard a rumble of thunder. Then there was a bolt of lightning. The rain started…first like one pebble against the window, then another, then a whole slew of them. Mulder grunted in his sleep. Scully licked her lips and adjusted the blanket around him. 

He still smelled like fire, ash, and lost hopes. Scully sighed and went to his bedroom window and watched the storm intensify like the one in her heart. She shivered; her gray sweater failing to keep the chilliness of his old Alexandria apartment at bay. Assuming he would not mind, she took a hooded Knick’s sweatshirt that hung on the back of his door. She glanced over her shoulder and wandered out into the living room.

Scully watched the storm continue from his desk in the light of the fish tank. Her watch read 1:00 am but felt like she had been awake for days. Her hazy mind swirled with the recent events…their work up in flames, clutching a numb Mulder to her, trying to coax him to get some sleep, staying with him. Then there was the matter of Diana Fowley. She tried not to let her mind go there.

Fowley helped Mulder find the x-files; Scully helped destroy them.

Gently, she probed the back of her neck, feeling the slightly raised scar that she implanted months ago. The miraculous cure that saved her from her cancer and that Mulder had saved her, almost losing himself in the process. Where did that leave them now? She began the year sick and dying of cancer, caused by her abduction, found a daughter that died that she never knew she had, all to lose it.

She hugged the worn sweatshirt around her. It smelled like him and made her remember the nights he would stay with her during the course of her cancer. She closed her eyes at the memory. She felt so confused, but after her cancer had been cured, she had some idea of where it could be headed…what they could be. But the maelstrom appeared in the siren Diana Fowley and had run their ship off course. Again.

The storm raged and Scully sighed.

She could just as easily leave…go home, leave him to his misery. He probably saw her as the destroyer of worlds and all that he believed. Scully winced, recalling seeing how Mulder so cozily held Fowley’s hand. There was history; of that she was certain. She had her evidence: Frohike’s chickadee reference, that fucking holding of hands, the way she caught Fowley looking at Mulder, and Gibson’s own warnings to her. You don’t care what others think about you but you care what she thinks.

“Scully?” 

Mulder’s muffled voice came from the closed bedroom.

“Scully?”

He was becoming more panicked.

“In here, Mulder.”

She buried her face into the oversized sweatshirt, inhaling deeply. She tried to draw some strength and some better memories. She heard him getting up, shuffling around. The bedroom door creaked open and he ruffled his hair. “What time is it?”

“A little after one,” she whispered. She didn’t break her gaze from the storm raging outside. “I thought you were asleep.”

“I can’t…I don’t know how I even how to sleep for those few hours.”

“Exhaustion,” she said.

The lightning lit up the night sky. “What are you wearing? You look like a llama, ohh wait, or is it an alpaca?” He joked.

She didn’t look at him. “It is a sweatshirt of yours. I hope you don’t mind. I was cold.”

“It’s fine. Are you hungry? I can make something.”

“I’m fine, Mulder.”

She chewed on her lip thoughtfully, lost in her own thoughts. He was still tired, exhausted. “Stop biting your lip, you know it drives me crazy,” he tried to jest again.

“I’m sure,” she whispered dryly. “Mulder, I’m not really in the mood right now.”

“You’re still here. That says something.” 

“I guess.” She shrugged. “I can go if you want me to.”

“No,” he said immediately. He put his hand on her shoulder and she jumped slightly. The move did not go unnoticed. “Stay, Scully? You can take the bed if you want.”

“I’m fine, Mulder.”

“What is it? What’s bothering you?”

“Aside from the fact we’ve lost the x-files, all of our work is up in flames, and I never discover what actually happened to me and we may not ever find your sister? I’m peachy.” Scully could feel his eyes glaring at her at the base of her skull, somehow able to look at the chip even in the dark. “I can still go, Mulder. Perhaps there is someone else…you’d prefer.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean, Scully?” She felt tears in her eyes. Dear God, what was wrong with her? She shook her head silently. “Scully, talk to me. Is the loss of the x-files? Our work? I won’t know unless you tell me.”

Again, she shook her head.

“I saw you. In the hallway with her.”

“Who?”

“I’m sorry. I’ve said too much. I should go. You probably want to be alone with your thoughts.” She moved to take off the offending shirt to give it back, but he stopped her. “Mulder, let me go.”

“No. Not until you tell me. We’re partners.”

“For how long?” Scully snapped. “They’re taking away the x-files from us. They’re going to separate us up! Again. She may have been with you to find the x-files but I’m certainly the one to destroy them.”

Mulder arched an eyebrow. “You mean Diana?”

“I really should be going.”

“Scully, stop.” She’s already lost in her thoughts and Mulder realized the weight of loss affecting her too. “Scully!”

“I’m a jinx, right? I should’ve done more.”

He abruptly ignores her and pulls her into a tight hug. She fights him, trying to push away. “Scully, stop.” He was taller and stronger than her. “Scully, stop! Listen to me!” The pieces were coming together. “You saw her holding my hand.”

She stopped dejectedly and nodded. 

“And you think I’d prefer to have her than you?”

Again, another weak nod. 

Mulder had never known her to be so insecure, so emotionally raw than at this moment. He massaged her shoulders gently as she kept her head down. “We’re both hurting, Scully.”

She couldn’t handle it anymore. “Who is she to you, Mulder?”

“She ain’t no Scully if that is what you’re asking.”

“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

“What do you think?” He tipped her head up so she looked at him. “What are you talking about? You’re the only face with a view around here.” She smiled slightly and he gently thumbed away the stray tear. “You’re my partner. No one is splitting us up again.”

She nodded.

“Stay, Scully. Do you want to know who she is? I’ll tell you.”

Mulder guided her to the couch. “Let me grab us something to drink. It’s a rather painful story for me to tell.”

She didn’t resist him. Scully leaned back in the darkness on the well worn green leather couch. The storm continued to rage outside. She heard him shuffling around in the kitchen when he came back with two shot glasses and a half bottle of tequila. He poured them each a shot and gave her one.

“What are we drinking to?”

“You and me.” He told her simply. “We’re still here and we’ll find a way back again. And like I told you after Puerto Rico; I still have you.”

“Mulder: the eternal optimist. That doesn’t sound like you.”

They both took the shot. Scully grimaced as the fiery liquid burned down her throat. Mulder set his glass on his coffee table. He sighed, trying to figure out where to begin. “It is true, Diana helped me find the x-files back in ‘91. But there was more to it. It was a brief and torrid affair as the Victorians would call it. I got drunk…proposed. Three months later, she was gone and a divorce.” It came out in a long breath and Scully was silent. “It was the first time, in years…decades someone had actually cared about me or so I thought.”

Scully leaned forward to pour herself another drink. She pulled it back and could feel bile rising up in her throat. “She was your wife?”

“Briefly,” he murmured in thought. “I was naive. I wanted things to change. So I proposed. Worst mistake of my life. She gave me divorce papers and left for Europe. I haven’t seen or heard from her in years until last week.”

“Ex-wife, huh?”

He nodded. “She grabbed my hand, not the other way around. I…I don’t know what to think anymore.”

Mulder was quiet and watched her reaction. “Do you still love her?”

“Is there some fondness of what once was, could have been? A bit. But do I love her? Not anymore.” He gazed Scully fondly. “She did not come into my office five years ago and stubbornly defend me and our work. She did not cover my ass more times than I can count. She did not shot me to save me from myself. She’s not the one that I’m in love with.”

Scully had been staring fixedly at the dim bottle of tequila before his last words hit her. “What?” Her eyes met his. “What did you say?”

“You heard me.”

“I think I did but I am uncertain.”

“I’m not in love with Diana Fowley. Maybe at one time, long ago, but not anymore.” He leaned forward to cup her cheek “You know exactly what I meant, Scully.”

“We can’t…”

“We can.” The thunder crackled again and lightning lit the room. She briefly saw his eyes and she froze. Something overtook her and she leaned forward. “We’re okay, Scully.”

“Will we be?”

He nodded. Mulder caressed her cheek and gently teased her with his own lips. She responded instantly. He lunged backward with her. Scully did not know what new spirit possessed her. She carefully straddled his hips, trying not to lose her balance on the couch. She bit his lip teasingly, her own tongue delving deeper. Mulder’s arms snaked up under her shirt, grazing her bareback. “I’m not going to lose you again,” he vowed between breaths. “I’m not going to lose you ever again. I can’t.”

Scully took off his shirt in one sweeping motion. “You’re mine.”

“I’m yours,” he promised. Her nails scratched lightly against his chest giving him goosebumps. Mulder stopped her suddenly in a sudden moment of clarity. “Scully, what are we doing?”

She stopped, becoming self-conscious. “What do you mean? Mulder, don’t do this to me.” His blank stare was all she needed. She got off him and dropped his sweatshirt. “I’m going to go home. I’ll um, see you later okay?”

Before he could utter another word, she had disappeared into the night. The storm still raged outside. He lowered his eyes and collapsed against his leather couch. He lost his work, their office, and now, he could feel himself losing her again…just like he lost Diana. Maybe he really was meant to be alone.

Scully rode the elevator down to the ground floor and she could feel tears in her eyes. At the door separating her from the lobby of the apartment and the storm outside, she felt something building in her. Anger, frustration, sadness, and longing. She shook her head. She remembered how her mother told her how Mulder never stopped looking for her during her abduction. The quick, loving gazes he would give her that he thought she wouldn’t see. And she made a decision.

On her heel, Scully turned to go back to the elevator and go back up the stairs. As soon as she stepped off the elevator and the door closed behind her, a large rumble thunder crashed overhead and then there was darkness. 

“Great,” Scully murmured, staring at the one emergency light down at the end of the hall. Had that happened earlier, she would have been stuck on that elevator. “Just great.”

She walked quickly to Mulder’s door and twisted the knob and shut it behind her. Darkness eschewed his apartment. With practiced ease, she locked his door. “Mulder,” she called.

“In here, Scully.” He was in the living room. A single candle was lit on the coffee table and his eyes were red. “I, um, what are you doing here?”

“First things first, Mulder. Do you have any other candles?”

“Kitchen,” he answered, “beneath the sink.”

Scully grabbed the candle he had lit and procured three others. Mulder made no effort to move. She placed them strategically throughout his living room so there was enough light so that neither one of them could hide.

“Carefully, Scully, we’ve already had one office go up in flames tonight.”

“Ill place humor, Mulder.” She sat next to him on the couch. “I came back.”

“Why did you?” His voice was barely above a whisper. “Scully?”

“Because my place is here. With you,” she answered evenly. She gazed outside his window as lightning lit up the sky. “Do you remember our first case? In Oregon?” 

He chuckled. “The bug bites, no power, and I decided to take the biggest risk in my life. I decided to trust you.”

“Funny how things come full circle, huh?”

He grunted in amusement. “You still have my sweatshirt on, Scully.”

“And you’re not getting back.”

“But you’re here.”

“I’m here.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Why? I’m not.”

“Then why did you run?”

“But I came back.”

“You came back,” he whispered. In the dim light, he took her hand and held it tightly. “Where do we go from here, Scully?”

“I don’t know. Maybe now tonight…wasn’t the right time for that. We’re both hurting, Mulder.”

“Are you saying no altogether?”

“No,” she whispered. She looked down at their hands. “I’ve wanted it for a very long time. But tonight, Mulder, we’re mourning. Maybe tomorrow? Maybe next week? Right now, I just don’t want to be alone, and I think, neither do you.”

“You have? Wanted it that is?”

Scully chuckled. “Yes, very much so.”

“I have to.”

She smiled. “Do you mind if I spend the night here? I don’t think either one of us wants to be alone tonight.”

Mulder met her eyes in the candlelight. “Will holding you suffice for tonight? Cuddling?” The word sounded foreign on his tongue. “Scully?”

“I would like that. And Mulder, I’m not like her…Fowley. I understand you both have history, but I’m not like her. I won’t abandon you or our work.”

Mulder shuffled on the green leather couch, bring Scully with him. Like perfect puzzle pieces, the lay together. Scully was protected between the back of the couch and Mulder. He sighed in relief as if he finally found what he had been searching for all his life. She pulled the Aztec blanket from the back of the couch around them. “Scully, I know this sounds bad, but I am glad you are here with me right now.”

His hand lazily pushed back her red locks as she nuzzled his shoulder, taking in his scent, and trying to memorize every aspect of this moment. She hugged him. “There is nowhere else I would rather be.”

Mulder smiled and watched the candlelit dance with their shadows. “Tomorrow?”

“We get back up and maybe lay down in Georgetown?” The suggestiveness was heavy in her voice. “Change of scenery?”

Mulder smiled and kissed the top of her head. “I’d like that.”

The storm continued to rage outside but in the darkness of the Alexandria apartment, Mulder and Scully, holding tight to each other, knew they were going to be okay.


End file.
